You might try an e-Mu sound card. the 1212m seems to be the mid-range. The 1616 seems pretty damned heavy duty though. Might be worth a look at least. Only downside is that apparently Creative bought them out.

You might try an e-Mu sound card. the 1212m seems to be the mid-range. The 1616 seems pretty damned heavy duty though. Might be worth a look at least. Only downside is that apparently Creative bought them out.

If you are serious about driving professional headphones, then a regular "consumer" soundcard won't cut the mustard, unless it has a separate and decent analogue amp section - which can be quite costly to implement.

This card might be a gimmick, but it has the right visual features... earthed cage to reduce interference, large caps, quality connectors. I'm not specificially recommending this product, just look at the picture to get an idea (ESI Prodigy 7.1 ). ESI do some pretty good external soundcards too.

Otherwise go PRO, and get yourself something interesting. There are many products to choose from. Look for M-Audio, ESI, MOTU Microbook. Here are 2 new things totally different from what you are currently thinking about... but who knows... might get you started:

You shouldn't need an amp with the ST, Claro or the Titanium HD, since the ST and Claro support headphones up to 600ohm and the Titanium HD up to 330ohm.

Click to expand...

I miss read the sites stock. They don't have the ST so I'm thinking of going for the Xonar Essence STX... But I'm going to play the waiting game and see what sales come this weekend here in Canada. Retailers are trying to keep the Canadian moola here in our own country lol so they are having Canada's own version of Black Friday... It's going to be interesting

These are great headphones and personally dont think I need anything better.

For gaming there has been no complaints especially the mic... ppl cant believe how clear it is and how it cancels out back ground noise. It was a xmas present from my wife and am supper happy with them, and heck she did a hell of a job picking them out